Refining



July 13 1926. 1,592,,H2 H. M. LAMY-TORRILHON REFINING Filed April- 10. 1924 Patented July 13, 1926.

UNITED STATES PAT-eN-r OFFICE.

BEFINING.

Application filed April 10, 1924, Serial No. 705,717, and in France April 14, 1923.

The invention relates to apparatus for the continuous or discontinuous treatment of all sorts of materials which are to be refined or from which it is desired to remove some constituents.

The process consists essentially in causing the material under treatment to be traversed by a current of vapour or gas and in recovering, when the treatment is finished, the heat contained in the vapours or gases which have achieved their purpose.

The apparatus is characterized essentially by the combination of a row of eva-porators or Vaporizers which are arranged according to the multiple action principle, that is to say in which the vapour of the first action is used for evaporating the liquid contained in the second action, and so on for actions and of'a column adapted to treat the materials in a continuous manner and which column is divided into a certain number of elements every one of which receives the vapour passing from one of the elements to the following one, so that the economy of vapour consumed by the column is comparable to that which is obtained with a multiple action apparatus for the purpose of evaporating a certain weight of water.

In order to be better understood, the annexed drawing, given by way of example only, shows a construction of apparatus based u on this principle and used for example or deodorizing oils through the action of a current of steam.

The column in which the oil is treated is composed, for example, of three sections or elements 1-23. Every one of these sections comprises a certam number of perforated plates 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, allowing the steam to bubble through the oil.

The oil passes downwardly through all the sections of the column. In passing from the one to the other the oil passes heaters 10, 11 which allow of heating up this oil to the required temperature.

The steam is led into every one of the sections through ports 13, 1d and 15, respectively connected with the elements of a three action evaporator in which,- tor example, the

steam which is generated at 16, after having passed upwardly through the section 1 of the column comes out at 19 in order to enter into the set of tubes 17 so as to produce, at 17, a fresh quantity of steam which enters at 14 into the second element of the column; the steam comes out at 20, so as to enter into the set of tubes 18 of the third evaporator; then the steam formed at. 18 is introduced at 15 into the third element of the column. The steam leaving at 21 this third element is condensed in any suitable apparatus, for instance, in a barometric condenser 22 in which a certain amount of vacuum is maintained by means' of any convenient device, such as a vacuum pump, and the like. In the drawing, this vacuum apparatus 23 is supposed to bee steam. trompe or blower, the steam coming from this trompe and conveyed through a pipe 23 is used for heating the set of tubes 16 of the first evaporator 16. The condensation waters coming from the tubes of the evaporators 16, 17 18 pass through heat exchangers 26, 27,- 28 in which a pump 33 forces the feed water supply for the multiple action evaporator.

The Water or other fluid the vapours of which are to act upon the material under treatment enters at 29, for example, into the first evaporator and passes, through a pipe 30, from the first evaporator to the second one, then through a pipe 31, from the second to the third one, and so on."

The material which has been treated leaves the column at 43 and passes through a heat exchanger 24 in which it gives up its heat to the material which is to be treated which arrives at 25 and enters into the column at 25.

According to the new method of treatment, it is possible to obtain an important economy. In fact, in all of the processes consisting in submitting the oils to a ,current of steam in order to deodorize them, whether the operation is carried out in a vacuum or at atmospheric pressure, in a discontinuous manner in digester,-or in a continuous manner, causing the oil to flow into columns of the same kind as those which are used in a distillery, the steam, after having done its work on the oil, is directly exhausted into the atmosphere or condensed. In the present process the sensible heat and the latent heat of vaporization of the steam are recovered.

The forms of construction of the apparatus can of course be modified in many ways, without departing from the principle of the invention.

' In the preceding case it has been supposed that the apparatus was working with steam, but of course the principle of the invention canbe carried out, whatever the nature of i the vapour as used may be, as also the nature of the liquid with which the evaporator is supplied; this princi 1e can be a plied not only connection with the refining of oils but whenever it is desired to separate two or more volatile bodies, even in case the op; eration would take place at temperatures which are lower than the boiling point of the most volatile liquid. The apparatus can the treatment of powedered also be used for solid substances; for the column is then substituted an apparatus which allows the material to passifrom one plate to the other, ofthe same kind, for example, as certain dryers, kilns, and the like. 1

It must be understood that the operation of the newsystem' is independent of the pressure of the evaporators relative to theatmosphere; in other words, it is only necessary that the difference in pressure between ono evaporatorgand the other be sufficient so as to secure, under good conditions, the vaporizatien of the liquid and the circulation;0f the vapours in the column, whatever the value of these pressures may be relative to the atmospheric pressure. Vacuum is therefore in no way unavoidable for the obtention of the desired economical effect. It will 26 27, 28 can take place through any saitablemeansj through a pump for example, a barometric column, vacuum flasks, and the like, incase these exhausts are to take place at a lower atmospheric pressure.

Claims c 1. In an apparatus for the continuous treatment of materials, a distillation column sub-divided into a number of elements,

' means: for progressively heating these ele ments, a multiple effect apparatus'having ;a series of multiple effects equal in number 'to number of connections permitting the vapor produced in each multlple effect element to traverse an elements of the said columnf element of the column and then to pass into the following multiple efiect element.

2. In an apparatus for the continuous treatment of materials, a distillation column sub-divided into a number of elements, means for progressively heating these elements, a multiple efi'ect apparatus having a series of effects equal in number to the number of elements of the column, connections permitting the vapor produced in each multiple efi'ect element to traverse an element of the column and then to pass into the following multiple effect-element, heat be sufiicient to operate in the first evaporator exchangers at the exit of the multiple effect with vapour at a pressure which is sufiicient apparatus and at the exit of the column to for obtaining the necessary drop at every heat the liquids entering said column and stage. said multiple effects.

The stages can also be in any number The foregoing s ecification signed by me which is only limited by the working condithis 29th day of arch 1924, tions and the cost price, The exhaust of the condensation waters from the heaters such as HlPPm-YTE UMY-TORRILHON 

